Bodywork Therapies…Which One is Right for Me?
By Heather Piper, LMT I
recently logged onto the Associated Bodywork & Massage Professionals website, and found numerous types of
bodywork. Far too many to mention or to list in one short article, let’s just say the list had 26 choices, one for every letter in the alphabet, plus a few more. I can to- tally understand why clients don’t choose to consider massage therapy or bodywork when it is far too overwhelming. How do you know what to choose? How do you know whether or not a type of bodywork is good for you? At this time I would like to define for you some common types of bodywork.
Swedish Massage
Swedish is one of the most com- mon and well-known types of bodywork, designed to stimulate the circulation and energize the body. Swedish massage is based on five techniques: 1)Effleurage uses long flowing, or gliding strokes; 2) Petrissage uses kneading and squeezing of the muscles using hands, fingers, and knuckles; 3) Tapotement uses rhythmic tapping that uses the sides of the hands, to loosen and relax the muscles; 4) Fric- tion uses movements with the hands to create heat and to bring about relaxation of the muscles, and; 5) Vibration uses the back and forth movement of the fingertips or the heel of the hand over the body to loosen the muscles.
28 Essential Living Maine ~ May/June 2014 I appreciate the Swedish massage
more than anything; typically this is ig- nored as an excellent form of bodywork. Why do we stigmatize this work as many of the deep tissue techniques are based on this work? Don’t misinterpret that Swedish is light work in any way. Some of the techniques listed above can be very deep. Petrissage is and can be very deep work. My conclusion is that what is writ- ten about Swedish in the features section of a spa menu leads us to believe that this work is more of a relaxation session than a massage. This is simply not true.
Deep Tissue
Deep Tissue is described by some as the only type of bodywork that makes a difference in the body or to affect change in the muscles. Therapists have a tenden- cy to use this term to describe their work and to make it seem as if there aren’t any other types of bodywork. This work is very good for many people, we all are different and what might be deep to you might be light to someone else. These are techniques based on Swedish massage that affect the deeper layers of tissue in the muscles and usually require a good understanding of anatomy, and structure of the muscles. This work can be helpful with chronic pain or muscular injury re- habilitation. I think it is best to work using a combination of deep techniques with
lighter strokes to allow the body to adjust to the work.
I find that it is important to keep the lines of communication open between the therapist and the client. Just telling the therapist that you want deep work and to “go as deep as you can, don’t worry I can take it”. Is not really what we are going for here. When I am working with clients I really want to know what is going on in the body while I am working. I use a pain scale of 0-10. Zero means: “is this person even touching me”, all the way up to ten where: “this is killing me and I am out of here”. I prefer to work around a seven or eight, and this is subjective for nearly everyone. Your eight may be my five. Everyone is different and it really isn’t for the therapist to decide what is right for you, it is your decision, your massage, and you are the one that is paying for the session.
Muscular Therapy Muscular Therapy is not listed in the
glossary, so it will need its own defini- tion here. It is a form of bodywork that includes a series of techniques and exercises designed to break down mus- cular tension and possibly prevent it from returning. This is different than deep tissue or Swedish. We have nearly 200 different techniques that we learn in our course work to apply to different parts of
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